Joost Klein, the Dutch entrant for this monthโs Eurovision Song Contest, denies all the charges which led to him being thrown out of the competition, his lawyer Jan-ร ke Fรคlt has told Swedish media.
Klein, whose song Europapa was one of the competition favourites, was disqualified on Saturday after an incident at Thursdayโs rehearsal between him and a camerawoman. He now faces being charged with โcriminal intimidationโ, according to Swedish media.
Swedish police said earlier that they were accelerating the prosecution process because they consider the evidence to be strong and because the offence is not more serious.
But Fรคlt told local reporters Klein denies wrongdoing. โAs I understand it, there was an agreement between him and the event management,โ he said. โIt was a sensitive occasion where he was not to be photographed leaving the stage. He should have been met just by his team but there was photographer standing there. He asked the person to stop filming.โ
The photographer, says Fรคlt, did not listen to Klein who then pushed the camera away to get rid of it. โHe denies having threatened this person,โ the lawyer said.
Fรคlt said a preliminary trial date had been set for early June but that the police are not yet finished with their investigation.
โWe have been informed of the investigation and now have the opportunity to comment on it,โ he said. โWe will request that some Dutch people appear as witnessesโฆI think the chances of him being acquitted are good.โ
The European Broadcasting Union issued a statement on Tuesday saying that the Dutch version of events did not correspond with the witness accounts.
โJoostโs behaviour was in clear breach of contest rules, which are designed to ensure there is a safe working environment for all staff and to protect the production,โ the EBU statement said.